Large structures, such as ships, buildings, bridges, all deteriorate slowly when exposed to the environment. Paints and other coatings are typically applied to the surfaces of these structures to prevent or diminish the harmful effects of the environment. Typically, these coatings include minerals such as lead, zinc, tin, copper, or other heavy metal-based paints. The application of these paints or coatings, particularly via spray mechanisms can be harmful to the environment, as minute particles called overspray, are inadvertently released.
During spray paint application, a portion of the paint does not adhere to the surface. This “overspray” moves largely parallel to the surface and carries heavy metals and other hazardous materials into the environment that endangers waterways, plants, animals, humans, and contaminates nearby structures. Overspray can be defined in two categories; academic overspray, and feather overspray.
Regarding ships and protecting against the release of overspray during painting cycles, shipyards have traditionally resorted to enshrouding entire ships. Enshrouding a ship is expensive in material, labor, and time and interferes with other necessary ship maintenance activities, with reduces overall productivity. Consequently, there has been a development of various arrangements, including; automated painting machines with localized overspray capture shrouds and portable enclosures with broader overspray capture for use with a manual painter. Automated machines tend to be expensive and do not apply paint on curved surface as effectively as compared to when paint is manually applied.
Portable enclosures for use with manual painters are typically heavy, bulky, and are generally flawed at capturing a high percentage of overspray. Typically these portable man-sized enclosures operate so that there is a gap between the enclosure and the surface being painted. For the most effective capturing of overspray, this gap must be “effectively” sealed by providing a controlled airflow in this area. The percentage of overspray capture, and conversely overspray spillage to the environment depends on the design features of the seal. It is desired to have a design that is easy to use, inexpensive, lightweight, and that captures a high percentage of overspray.